Famed Harvard shop goes on the market

The owner of the Harvard Book Store, which has been in the same family for 76 years, has put the store up for sale.

The owner of the Harvard Book Store, which has been in the same family for 76 years, has put the store up for sale.

Frank Kramer, 66, whose father started the business in 1932, said he is selling the store on Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., "because I've been doing it for 46 years and it's time to move on to something new in my life."

Another reason, he said, is to ensure that the store goes to an owner who will be committed to it in the future.

"The role of a bookstore in a physical place must continue, and I want it to," Kramer said.

His father, Mark, founded the store to sell used books, then expanded into academic books -- not textbooks but intellectual works assigned by professors. Frank Kramer later expanded it into a general bookstore.

"It is very bittersweet because he has been such a leader in the industry," said Dana Brigham of Brookline Booksmith.

The Harvard Book Store is considered to be in the top tier of independent stores nationally, along with Cody's Books in San Francisco; Powell's Books in Portland, Ore.; and Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver.

In recent years, as other bookstores have failed, the shop has become a tourist destination.